Why didn't you, God?

"I hate going to work on days like this - sun shining, cool breeze. I think we used to call these the lazy days of summer." remarked my friend as we sat down with our coffee.

"I hear you. Gonna take the wife to the airport and then probably get a haircut."

"Where's the wife off to?"

"Virginia.... Babysit the grandkids while their parents go to a wedding."

"I see. Do you remember my last question yesterday?"

"Let's see. Why didn't God intervene in Kerry's life so she could live to take care of Austin?"

"Yah. It would seem to me if you are a theist and believe that God is personal, active and concerned about the world that he would be interested in the life of a baby's mother."

"Makes perfect sense to me. Of course, you aren't the first person to ask this question. Starting with Job to the present many people have asked this question."

"I am sure that there have been as many answers as there have been questioners."

"It seems that way. To you question. There are two popular answers. The first one is called 'the best possible world' answer. Here the belief is that God made a world in which he wanted people to freely choose to believe in him and to freely choose their behaviors. God isn't interested in robots. The consequence of this best possible world is that people could make wrong choices which would have a negative consequence for themselves and others."

"I guess that makes sense. What are my other options?"

"The other view is that evil happens by God's permissive will. Many people when they try to make sense out of tragedy will say something like this: 'God has a greater purpose that we don't know today.' Many people find this answer quite comforting. None of us would want to think that tragedy is meaningless. Closely tied to this view is the opinion that bad things happen to be teach us something and that we don't have the whole picture about what happened."

"I have heard that last point. I guess that is finding out the 'what' of the tragedy instead of focusing on the 'why' of it. I have seen many people change their lives after something bad happened to them. I guess that woud make sense for some people. Can I go back to the first one?

"Be my guest."

"Let's see if i get this :God made a world where evil was a possibility. Kerry died of a cancer that attacked her liver. As far as we know Kerry did nothing to invite this cancer into her body, kind of like the lung cancer victim who has never smoked, so how does she end up with cancer?"

"Let me congratulate you on not blaming God for giving her cancer. Kerry died of cancer not by divine fiat. God didn't kill Kerry, cancer did."

"Ah here's the rub. Could God have intervened and stopped the cancer? Don't other people get a chance at a miracle?"

"Yes, God could have intervened. Since God didn't intervene in the way we think he should have, doesn't mean that God doesn't exist or that God doesn't care. At this point, many people go back the 'we don't have the whole picture' option and remind themselves that we live in a world of freedom. As to the miracle question, that is a separate issue deserving its own time."

"Of course, even if we solve all these age-old questions, it doesn't bring Kerry or Austin back."

"This is true. What happened is very sad. We grieve with Kerry and Austin's family. All the answers in the world won't dull the pain."

"Coffee tomorrow?"

"Yup. Your turn to buy."

(c) 2009 Ronald Friesen